Walter Seddon Clayton

Walter Seddon Clayton (24 March 190622 October 1997) was a key organiser of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) in the 1930s and 1940s and suspected of being the Australian-based Soviet spymaster code-named 'KLOD', although the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and Britains' MI5 were not able to provide any conclusive evidence of this for fear of tipping off the Soviets that their cable traffic was being deciphered and read by Western intelligence agencies.

Early life and work Clayton was born in New Zealand before settling in Melbourne, Australia in 1931, where he sold bags and goods wholesale.

Clayton was kept under ASIO surveillance throughout the 1950s and 1960s as part of Operation Pigeon. This surveillance may have even extended into the 1970s and 1980s.

Suspecting that Clayton might rendezvous with a Soviet submarine off the NSW coast, ASIO had reportedly even recruited the services of local fishermen in the Port Stephens area to monitor his movements at sea.